Tales from the Bookstore
by justlook3
Summary: Welcome to The Final Draft, an independent bookstore owned by the eccentric Flynn Carsen and populated by his collection of "strays." This will be a collection of one shots based in this universe and often based on prompts. Heavily Jake/Cassandra focused but also including Eve/Flynn and Cindy/Ezekiel and maybe more! Bookstore AU.
1. Welcome To The Final Draft

In this one we meet Jacob Stone and the bookstore where he works and then get introduced to Cassandra Cillian.

* * *

"Are you sure you have everything?" Jacob Stone asked his girlfriend, well soon to be ex-girlfriend. Despite everything they'd tried to say to each other in the last few weeks, he knew he'd never see her again. They were standing outside of the international terminal at the airport, where Mabel was soon to be departing for her dream job in Paris.

She nodded, a gentle smile on her face, "yes, Jacob, I have everything. Just please kiss me goodbye, okay? I really need to get in."

"Yeah, I know, darlin'. I . . .Mabel . . .I . . ."Mabel's finger went on his lips.

"Don't, Jacob, don't. Okay? Just kiss me."

He nodded and obliged. This kiss, unlike the ones last night, had an air of finality about it. The kisses last night, even as they made love for the last time, had had an air of hope about them. But Mabel was always the more sensible of the two of them. The one with adventure in her veins, where she was going, he couldn't follow. And eventually he'd be okay with that.

"I've gotta go. Take care of yourself, won't you Jake?" He nodded, trying to keep the lump in his throat down. "Tell everyone at the Draft that I'll miss them! I've gotta go." She kissed him one last time then stepped away.

"Goodbye, Jake. I'll text you when I get there."

"Yeah," he nodded and as she turned to the door, he called her name one last time. She turned to look at him and he raised his hand to wave. "Have a great life, Mabel."

She nodded, accepting that it was now in fact over, despite the comforting fictions they'd tried to feed each other of trying to have a long distance relationship. It would never work. Then she disappeared inside without another word.

* * *

He took the rest of the day off of work. He'd intended to lose himself in a bottle of whiskey but instead he lost himself in a book. All things considered it probably was a better option, he really didn't want to come in hung over. Especially since work was something he desperately needed right now to get his mind off of Mabel.

Jacob had come to New York with a dream, a dream that had been 20 years in the making. College had been out of the question after high school and he watched his peers go off to Oklahoma or Oklahoma State or Texas A&M while he stayed behind, stuck in his dead end job in his family's constantly just below failing business. Year, after year, he stayed, trying to keep his father from drinking away the business completely. Meanwhile, all of his free time was spent studying and writing. Jacob Stone had the iq of a genius, though no one in his family knew. No one really knew, as he did his writing under a nom de plume. Only one online friend knew the truth, Flynn Carsen, who was now Jacob's boss.

Three years ago, his father finally succeeded in drinking himself to death. Jacob sold everything and gave most of the money to his sisters. Flynn had made an offer, come to New York and work for him and he'd help pay for a college education.

It had been daunting to be taking undergraduate classes when he was as old as some of the instructors, but Flynn had found him a school with a high amount of non-traditional students and he'd somehow managed to fit in.

Work too was a place where he fit in. Flynn's band of misfits, the store manager Mr. Jenkins (no one knew his first name), always scoffed. Though, Jacob knew, that Jenkins was all bluster and snark and had a very real affection for everyone there.

Flynn had inherited quite a bit of money from his parents and so ran an independent bookshop catering to his own weird and wonderful tastes. He could afford to take in his strays and despite it all, the place actually did a good deal of business. Jenkins had an amazing knack for managing the place. And Jacob had become head of the art and history section, free reign to order whatever books he saw fit. They also bought used books and he really enjoyed going through those, since Flynn had a way of sweet talking elderly collectors into unloading their treasures.

Work was Jacob's salvation and his refuge, but it also was where he'd met Mabel Collins. She had a similar background, stuck in a small town for most of her life, taking care of her own family business. Similarly to Jacob, her family had finally decided to sell and Mabel had come to the big city. She'd fallen into work at _The Final Draft_ where she'd headed up the math and science department.

But eventually she'd gone stir crazy and had gotten a job overseas. He knew that Mabel had always been a caged bird and in the back of his mind, he'd known the relationship was doomed. But he was a romantic and he'd fallen in love with the girl, even though he also knew she hadn't fallen for him. She liked him a lot and maybe had things been different . . .but at least she'd never said words she hadn't meant. It was probably easier on her this way, he knew she'd miss him, at least for a time. But she had a different life ahead of her.

He walked into work that morning and Eve Baird had his favorite latte waiting for him with a smile. Baird (only Flynn called her Eve), was former military. She was the bookstore's security guard and she also had a knack as a barista. She said working the espresso machine was relaxing so even though they all took turns on the coffee bar, she was there the most.

"She get off alright?" she asked gently as she handed him the mug.

He nodded. "Yeah, she texted me when she was settled in. I'm sure she's gonna be happy there."

"Well, we'll sure miss her around here," Baird said as she filled a teapot with boiling water.

Jenkins nodded at her. "More work for me. Applicants coming in this morning, though as usual Mr. Carsen has his eye on a couple of strays."

"Applicants?" Jacob asked with a raised eyebrow.

Jenkins rolled his eyes. "Ms. Collins is no longer heading up math and science, we will need to hire someone to fill the vacancy."

"Right, yes, of course," Jacob sighed. "I'm gonna be upstairs if anyone needs me."

"Did you have to mention her?" he heard Baird scolding Jenkins as he left.

* * *

A few days later, Jacob came in early to work. Standing near the side entrance was a pretty redhead wearing a short red skirt and a black turtleneck under a pink sweater that was covered with a pattern of bees. At first glance, Jacob was pretty sure those colors didn't really go together but somehow on her they worked.

She turned, a big smile on her face and first he noticed how big and blue her eyes were. "Good morning!"

"Uh, good morning, we don't open for another hour and the entrance is up front," he said kindly.

"Oh, I know," she said and the morning sun caught a sparkle and his eye was momentarily drawn to the variety of insect pins she had adorned her sweater with. "I'm the new girl and I haven't gotten a key yet. I know I was supposed to be here when Mr. Jenkins got here in about a half hour, but I was so excited I got here early."

"Ah math and science?" he asked, as he opened the door.

"Yep. Cassandra Cillian, math girl!"

He had to smile at her excitement in spite of himself and the fact that she was replacing his girl. "Jacob Stone, art and history."

"Oh, that's exciting. I don't know much about those subjects myself but I love beautiful things. Why are you here so early? Or is that normal for you? Early bird gets the worm and all?"

 _Wow, she did talk really fast_. He wondered if that was normal or just a side effect of first day jitters. "I come in an hour early on Wednesdays because I have to leave for class in the afternoon."

"Class? Do you teach?" she asked, looking interested and following him up to the coffee bar. She remained leaning against the bar while he went behind it, busy with getting it ready for both his morning coffee and the day.

He blushed slightly, it was a bit embarrassing. "No, I'm an undergrad, junior. I uh, didn't quite get to college at the usual age."

Instead of the look of pity or confusion he was used to getting from strangers, Cassandra looked delighted. "Oh that's wonderful! I didn't get to college at the usual age either. I've been thinking about going and Flynn offered to help when I took the job. Maybe we'll be classmates? Though I suppose you're taking art?"

"Art history, yeah. But I didn't quite 'life experience' out of all the core classes. Though, I have taken all but one of my science requirements already."

The machine let out it's morning gurgle and Cassandra looked delighted at the sound. As beautiful as he found the world, he wondered how someone could just be so excited about every little thing like she was.

"I'd offer you some, but you seem like the type that don't need no morning jolt to get goin'."

She giggled, "no, I've been told that I need to steer clear of coffee. But I would love some tea if we have any."

He smiled and motioned behind the bar. "We have a tea setup over there. Help yourself . . .well, don't take any of the tea in the red box. That's Jenkins' stash and he gets sore if anyone touches it. The blue and green assortments are for staff and customers."

Jacob knew he really should get some work done, but he also didn't quite know if he should leave Cassandra to her own devices until Jenkins arrived. But Jenkins arrived at his usual time and Cassandra was whisked off into the manager's office, most likely to take care of paperwork and get her keys.

Jacob went back to work getting the coffee bar ready for opening. The coffee bar didn't really do that much morning business since it opened with the store at 9am. Depending on the day they had a mid morning rush with people from the neighboring businesses dropping by on their coffee breaks. Afternoons were when it picked up, at least during the school year, with the students, both high school and college who dropped by for a post class pick me up. Study groups regularly met there and it was a popular place for a first date among the younger crowd.

Ezekiel would have first shift at the bar, but he never arrived more than two minutes before opening. So Jacob had volunteered to get things ready in the morning. Usually he'd have time to get things done in his department but talking to Cassandra had slowed him down. That and for some reason, Baird hadn't cleaned to her usual standards the night before. He rolled his eyes, Flynn had probably distracted her.

"Morning mate," came Ezekiel's chipper Australian accent as he bounced in. Jacob noticed with a smirk that he'd come in with Cindy, who handled the young adult section. She had the grace to blush a little and back up a couple of inches from Jones.

"On time as usual, Mr. Jones," Jenkins said, heading for the front doors. "Ah, Mr. Stone? I have some phone calls to make this morning. Can you show Ms. Cillian around? And Ms. Kroger can you handle the register for the morning?"

"On it, Mr. Jenkins," Cindy said, heading for the register. Jones winked at her and settled in behind the coffee bar, pulling a comic book out of a hiding place.

Two customers came in with Jenkins, one of whom went up to the coffee bar and the other wandered off toward fiction. Jenkins disappeared into his office, leaving Cassandra nervously twisting her hands.

"No one bites," Jacob said to her gently.

"Right, yes. Grand tour then?"

"Of course," Jacob said. "Well, the Australian is Ezekiel Jones, he runs the media department. As you can see, we rotate around the coffee bar and register as needed along with taking care of our sections."

Cassandra nodded. He lead her over to the register to introduce her to Cindy. "This here is Cindy Kroger, she runs young adult. This is Cassandra Cillian, she's math and science."

"Oh!" Cindy exclaimed, "you're the new Mabel." Then she winced and mouthed _sorry_ to Jacob.

Jacob only sighed and continued the tour. Cassandra wanted to ask about who this Mabel was, but something told her that was a bad idea. Finally they got upstairs to her department which was right next to his.

"Well, you might wanna look around your area for a while, you remember where your desk is?"

She nodded. "I should let you get back to work, thanks for the tour, Mr. Stone."

"Jacob," he smiled at her.

"Right, Jacob." They shared a warm look and then Jacob shook his head as if to clear it and cleared this throat.

"Right, I'll be around if you need any help. Enjoy."

Cassandra watched him leave and then gave a delighted twirl around her department. She'd had some great ideas about things she wanted to see when she gave her interview and Flynn had seemed excited about them. Seeing the area laid out in front of her gave her ideas life. She was going to love it here.

Later, when Jacob was making his way downstairs to head off to class, he caught sight of Cassandra in her department, moving some displays around. She looked so excited to be there. Mabel had always been just passing through. He loved her, but she never loved the store like Jacob did. Cassandra, on the other hand, well he wasn't over Mabel by a long shot. But coming into work was gonna be very interesting with the new math girl, that much he knew.

* * *

Got an idea for a story for this series? Let me know in the comments or hit me up on tumblr at justlook3.


	2. The New Girl

What was that saying? Life begins at 30? For Cassandra Cillian, that was absolutely true. She was only 15 when she was diagnosed with the brain tumor. Surgery at the time was risky and she'd avoided it as long as she could. It was a miracle, she'd been told, that she'd managed to live so long after diagnosis. But shortly after her 30th miracle birthday, the tumor had given her no choice. She might not have survived the surgery but she was surely going to die if she didn't have it.

So she put her trust in a talented surgeon and she survived. Like the miracle she was, he'd said as he grinned at her in the recovery room. Recovery had been slow, but she was alive. Alive and with a full future ahead of her.

A mysterious benefactor had paid the bills that insurance had not. Which was yet another miracle in a whole string of them that Cassandra had been blessed with. And then she got an email with information about a job at a bookstore.

She'd heard about the store, it was eccentric and fun and wonderful and wild. Everything that Cassandra was looking for in this her new life.

The interview for the job went really well and within a couple of hours she'd been offered the job.

Now she'd been there for two weeks and was slowly learning the ropes. It was a fun place to work and Cassandra absolutely loved it. She liked her co-workers: eccentric but hilarious Flynn, no-nonsense but still funny Baird, sweet Cindy and hilarious (and not as lazy as he pretended to be) Ezekiel. She even had come to like gruff and grumpy Mr. Jenkins. But there was one tough nut to crack, Jacob Stone over in art and history.

She liked him and he seemed to like her. He was sweet and very kind, always polite. It was just . . .he was a tough nut to crack. She wasn't sure if he liked her or was just being polite. He was very reserved and hard to get to know. Extremely quiet, didn't really socialize all that much, though he certainly teased Baird and Ezekiel enough. Maybe he was just shy?

Or maybe it was something about her? He seemed to not really want to get to know her, despite, again always being kind and polite to her. But the others had invited her to go out after work and he never had. And she knew from Cindy that he occasionally went out for a beer with people from work, usually Baird (they have a sibling thing going on, Cindy had said). She wondered if it was personal or something about her position? She'd heard the name Mabel floating around . . . .

So she figured there were two people to ask. Cindy or Baird. Both were a bit gossipy, especially Baird, but Baird also was pretty tight with Jacob, so maybe Cindy was her best bet for information.

Cindy was showing her how to work the espresso machine late one morning, the store was quiet and Jacob worked the afternoon shift as he had class in the morning.

"Cindy?" Cassandra asked, packing the grounds in like she'd been taught.

"Yeah?"

"Can I ask a question? Not about this."

"Sure, what's up?"

"Who is Mabel?"

"Oh," Cindy's eyes got wide. "Well, I mean I guess it's not like it's a big secret or anything. Mabel Collins used to run your department."

"Ah, you said I was the new Mabel on my first day," Cassandra mused. "Is there a reason you guys always clam up when you talk about her? She didn't . . . ." And Cassandra looked sad as the thought occurred to her.

"What?" Cindy looked confused and then she got it. "Oh no! Nothing like that. She's alive as far as I know. She left for a job in Paris."

"Oh, well, wow, that sounds wonderful. So why all the hushing?"

Cindy shook her head. "She and Jacob were together. And they basically broke up the day she left."

"Oh, ouch," Cassandra said. "Is that why he's so standoffish with me?"

Cindy shrugged. "Maybe? Ezekiel says he always thought it was more a one sided thing. Jacob was head over heels for her, but she always had one foot out the door. She spent too much time in a small town and she ran as soon as she could. I suppose we don't like to bring her up because of the way it ended. Jacob's . . ." Cindy sighed dreamily. "A romantic, you know? He's probably writing sad poetry about her. Believing she'd come back to him. But she's not."

Cassandra nodded. "And he's not into the reminder that she's gone. I guess it wouldn't matter who took the position."

"Not really, no. I suppose if a guy got it, maybe he'd be a little less weird, but I dunno. It's not you, Cassandra. Honest. He does seem to like you. He's slow to warm up. None of us really know that much about him, but I think his childhood was rough. Flynn mentioned no one knew he was a genius until his dad died and he sold everything and left Oklahoma."

"Huh, well I guess I'll just have to give it some time then," Cassandra said. Then she switched the subject back to making coffee drinks.

* * *

Cassandra had not had a job that allowed her to use her intelligence in well, her life really. She'd worked as a hospital janitor for years. That's how she'd come into contact with the talented surgeon who saved her life. He was a kind man who actually noticed people and unlike most of the others in the hospital, he'd noticed her. If he wasn't old enough to be her father and married, she might have developed quite the crush on him. He had been so happy to hear she'd gotten this job though.

"Use your gifts," he'd said. "Take the aid they're giving your for an education. What you do here is important, but it's not what would make you happy." Then he'd smiled and told her maybe researching conditions like hers would be what she ended up doing.

To be honest, medical research was not exactly what she wanted to do with what now was endless possibilities. But she really didn't know what she wanted to do. She was a genius and she was gifted in math and sciences. She'd tried hard to keep up with the fields as much as she could, but her health had slowed her down.

Even now things were different. No more headaches or seizures, that was a plus. Alright, she'd been having eye strain headaches. They'd scared her to death when she started having them. Her doctor had reassured her. It wasn't a return of the tumor, it was too much reading and computer work. She'd never been able to read or use the computer long enough to get eye strain before. He'd told her to take it easy and recommended she visit an eye doctor, that she might need reading glasses. That was on her to do list now that she was working with books all day long.

She didn't have the same memory she had. That made her chuckle because she was quite certain she still had a memory that others would envy. But she no longer had the recall she once had. She'd read that part of that was simple aging and she figured the surgery had done the rest. She still had the synesthesia that she had had all of her life. She'd been told that wasn't going to go away. But now it was the type she remembered from her childhood. She still could smell breakfast and see colors when she did math but her nose didn't bleed and her head didn't feel like it was going to explode. Every once in a while, she still would get sick to her stomach from the overload, but she was hoping that she'd be able to control it eventually.

She should have been working, but she'd found this interesting book and had been engrossed in it for quite a while. Until the numbers started to blur (she really needed to get her eyes checked) and that caused the colors to blur into something that started to make her dizzy from nausea. What had been pleasant breakfast smells started to morph into greasy burnt bacon and she thought she was going to throw up. She started to run for the bathroom but she either tripped or fainted, because the next thing she knew, Jacob Stone was in her vision, holding a glass of water. She was lying on the couch in between their sections.

"Hey, there you are," Jacob said. "You okay?"

"Did I faint?"

He nodded. "What's goin' on? Did you skip breakfast?"

"Ugh, breakfast," she grumbled. "Don't say breakfast."

"Okay," his voice was kind. "Do you need me to take you to a doctor?"

"No, I don't . . .I don't think so. This happens sometimes. Not so often anymore."

"Alright, did you get up too fast or something?"

"No, it's umm. . .well I have a . . .well I used to have a . . . ."

"Cassandra, you're not really makin' a lot of sense and I'm thinkin' we need to take you to the hospital. I don't remember seein' you hit your head but I'm worried."

Cassandra shook her head, she was still a little out of it. "Can you give me that water and I'll explain?"

Jacob nodded and she sipped slowly. When she got her brain back online, she explained. "I had a brain tumor for well years. The surgery was risky, but eventually it was decided for me. "

Jacob nodded, understanding crossing his features. "So it's gone now?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I mean we're still monitoring, just in case, but the doctor thinks it's gone for good. But I was born with synesthesia, that's . . . ."

"I know what that is," he said gently. "So that's what happened? I'm gonna guess that you have a scent related one?"

"And colors. Scent and colors. It used to be hyper, when I had the tumor. Now it seems to be like it was before. But sometimes I can't control it. Plus," she laughed slightly at herself. "I think I need glasses. I got distracted by a book and suddenly all the colors blurred and it was like being carsick. Then the usual breakfast smells I get morphed into burnt bacon."

"Because you were carsick, that makes sense. Tell ya what," Jacob said. "I'll go downstairs and make you some ginger tea. And then I will give you this the book I was just reading about an Italian painter who had the same thing you have. He had a whole bunch of coping techniques. But you're not to read it until you've gone to the eye doctor! There's one in the building across the street. If you want, I bet I can get you an appointment today."

Cassandra smiled at him. "How about the tea and their phone number and I'll call. And if you cover for me and I can get it, I'll go today. When my stomach settles down that is."

He smiled at her, one that made his eyes crinkle and made her stomach flip flop just a little. "Sounds like a plan."

And as he left, Cassandra decided that she just might have broken the ice just a little with Jacob Stone. And that wasn't a bad thing at all.

* * *

Got an idea for this series? Drop me a line!


	3. Girls Who Wear Glasses

Due to an error in her paperwork involving her vision plan, it was a week and a half later before Cassandra could get into the eye doctor. Cindy, who wore glasses, had offered to go help her pick out frames but that morning had come down with a sore throat and called in sick.

Baird was on the coffee bar and Ezekiel was on the register since both Cassandra and Cindy were absent from work. Cassandra shrugged, she guessed she was going to have to do this on her own. The doctor had told her that she wouldn't need to wear glasses all of the time, but she would need them to read and for computer work.

She'd giggled a little, pointing out that her job was at a bookstore and he'd laughed and said, well then you'll need to wear them at work. At this point, though she didn't need them to drive or watch tv or the like.

Since she was going to be wearing them most of the time at work, Cassandra wanted a cute pair that was going to work with her style. There just were so many choices! Did she want to go classic or plain? Or wild and crazy? Or somewhere in between?

She was staring at the display near the window when someone walking by outside caught her attention. Jacob had class in the morning that day and was finishing up what looked to be his lunch. She set the frames down she was looking at and told the clerk she'd be right back. She stepped outside the store.

"Jacob!"

Jacob looked confused as he turned, than saw Cassandra and noted what store she was standing outside of.

"Oh, finally got around to getting your eyes checked?"

She nodded. "They say I'll need to wear them at work. So, I was wondering if you could do me a little favor?"

"What's that?"

"Could you come and help me pick out a pair?"

"Aww, man, Cass-Cassandra, I thought Cindy was gonna help?"

"She's out sick. Which means that Baird can't come help either and I need to do this quickly so we can get back to the store."

He sighed, but he could never quite resist a woman asking for help. He followed her into the store.

"You're artistic," she said suddenly twirling to face him. "I need them for reading and computer work, so I'll be wearing them most of the time at work. I want something cute that'll work with my style."

He nodded, visualizing. He couldn't help himself. Art was in his blood, he saw the entire world through the filter of artistic expression. Fashion was art that you wore. And Cassandra certainly was up there in terms of interesting works of art . . .in the sense of fashion.

"What were those glasses that like Audrey Hepburn wore? You know the uh retro type?"

"Cat's eye!" Cassandra said, suddenly excited and following his wavelength. They both turned to the amused clerk who lead them over to a selection of retro styles.

Cassandra tried on a black pair and Jacob stared at her, considering. They were cute on her and actually rather becoming. _Damn did she had the most beautiful eyes_ . . . . He stopped the thought. Now was not the time to look into those eyes. He did rather like his pretty co-worker but his heart wasn't free and he wasn't the kind of guy to offer anything less than all of him. He shook his head and she cocked hers.

"Not working?"

"Uh . . . ." Jacob suddenly remembered what they were supposed to be doing. His art brain snapped in. "The shape is right but the color isn't. Blue maybe?"

"Or pink!" she said, getting back into the excitement.

"Or pink," he chuckled. They both scanned the display as Cassandra found a pair of pink ones with rhinestones.

She giggled as she tried them on. "Little much?" she said.

"Yeah, just a little, but you're in the right direction."

She found another pink pair that seemed more her style and was admiring them. That's when Jacob found the pair in the perfect shade of blue. They didn't match her eyes, but would bring them out and compliment the clothes she seemed to prefer. Today, for example, she was wearing a yellow skirt and purple and blue striped shirt with a blue denim vest , adorned as usual with an assortment of pins.

She'd taken the pink ones off and set them in her maybe pile. He walked over to her and without thinking, slid the glasses on her face. She blinked back at him and for a moment he was captivated by standing so close to her. She smelled wonderful and the skin under his fingertips was soft. Suddenly she blushed and he realized what he was doing, his hand fell away from her face and he backed up.

 _What was that?_ Cassandra thought, though she actually hadn't minded it. It was just the sheer adoration that was on his face for just a moment that had been too much to take. They didn't really know each other that well and he was getting over someone else. Did she remind him of Mabel in that moment? Or was it just his inner artist?

 _What was that?_ Jacob thought as he cleared his throat. He barely knew Cassandra and he was still in love with Mabel. And the pang of the name brought him back to reality. He stepped out the way and gestured to the mirror.

"Sorry, I went all artist there. I think you'll like these though."

"Oh wow," she murmured, deciding to leave whatever that was alone for now. "These are perfect." She bit her lip, "I did really like the pink too."

She could see Jacob nod in the mirror. "They were becoming. Cute on you as Cindy would say."

The clerk decided to jump in, "we're having a half off the second special right now, if you want to get both."

Cassandra beamed. "That settles it then. Both it is."

"Well, I am gonna get over to the Draft, I'll see ya later," Jacob said, turning to go.

"Right, and Jacob?"

Jacob froze, afraid she'd call him out for that lapse in judgment. But all she did was thank him.

But as he left, he found himself thinking that he'd never thought of glasses being artistic before. Cassandra Cillian was very full of surprises.

And Cassandra thought that maybe that saying about girls who wear glasses wasn't true at all.


	4. Mix-Up

This chapter is for a anon on tumblr who wanted "the book delivery was messed and Jake got math and science boks and Cassandra got art and history books to catalog."

* * *

Jacob Stone was in a bad mood. Last night he'd looking for something in his chest of drawers and realized Mabel had never removed the clothes she still had stashed there. Two outfits worth of clothing laying in the drawer as if she was going to come over that night. He'd actually been thinking he was making progress getting over her. It had been two months since she left for Paris after all. He'd not even thought about her in over a week, progress he'd thought. Now seeing her clothes just put him back into a downward spiral of pain and anger at himself. Some at Mabel, knowing she probably didn't miss him, she probably had at first, but he doubted he was much more than a pleasant memory now. She'd not loved him and he'd kept telling himself he was okay with that. But that didn't ease the pain of his own broken heart.

He'd composed email after email that night, intending on asking her what she'd like him to do with her stuff. Each one had spiraled off, some sad, some angry, one or two really rather bitter. He'd had the good sense to not send any of them. He deleted all the drafts in the cold light of morning, despite not having had much in the way of sleep. Instead he stuffed all of the clothes in a bag and dumped them in a clothing donation box he passed on his way to work. Mabel obviously didn't miss the stuff or she would have sent him a text or an email asking for them back.

Today he had a large shipment of books coming in and he was looking forward to the work involved. He'd have to sort and label them and then scan them into the library's catalog software. With any luck, there would be several titles that weren't in the system already, so it would be more work for him to focus on.

But there was something wrong when he went to work. He grabbed his handy box cutter and opened the first few boxes. He groaned as he looked them over. Then he opened the rest of the boxes.

"Damnit Flynn!" he yelled. Jenkins was on vacation and Flynn had done the ordering. Only instead of doing the ordering by department like Jenkins did, Flynn had just ordered things in a jumble.

He'd done this before and it looked like this time he'd mostly combined his and . . .of course, Cassandra's department. Back when Mabel was there, they'd found it fun, a way to spend time together on the job. A few stolen kisses, a whole lotta laughs. But memories of that certainly didn't improve Jacob's mood. Not at all.

Which meant he was going to have to work with Cassandra today. He'd been trying to avoid it, especially when he was in a Mabel mood. It wasn't as if he didn't like Cassandra. He did, which is why he didn't want to subject her to this mood. But it was more than that. He was attracted to the pretty redhead and he wasn't quite sure how to handle that. Especially now that he knew he'd taken two steps back in his getting over Mabel. He was simply confused and he'd tried to put distance between them. He really didn't want to do something stupid, especially since just last week he'd caught himself fantasizing about kissing her when she'd blushed when he'd complimented her. He wasn't gonna get involved with anyone until he was sure that he wasn't just trying to not be lonely.

Cassandra herself burst into his musings. "Hey, Jacob?"

"Yeah?"

"Are your boxes messed up too?"

He sighed heavily. "Yep. Want me to help you cart them in here and we'll sort them out?"

She smiled, though she could tell he was irritated. "That would be lovely."

* * *

Luckily for them, the mix-up had also delivered most of the boxes to Jacob's workspace. But they still had a few boxes to work with, so they loaded them onto a moving pallet. After that they'd sort onto book trucks.

Cassandra hummed to herself as she lifted boxes and that dug into Jacob's bad mood. He'd been committed to being miserable today, especially after this fiasco.

"How are you so cheerful on a Monday morning?" he groused.

Cassandra shot him an incredulous look and suddenly the truth hit him and he felt about three inches high. But she spoke in a gentle voice, "when you've suddenly been given a future after years of dying, well you tend to be in a good mood."

"I am so so sorry, Cassie," Jacob said. "I knew that was a bad thing to say, I'm just not having a good mornin'."

"Yeah, I noticed." Cassandra decided to take his apology and move on. "Is it just the Monday blues? School?"

"Monday partly but . . . ." Jacob sighed, heaving the last box onto the pallet. "I found some of my ex's things last night and . . . ."

"Oh," Cassandra said, nodding. "That's rough."

"I assume TeleaCindy told you?"

Cassandra tried not to giggle at the nickname. "Yeah, I'm sorry." Cassandra didn't venture any more information about the gossip regarding the relationship. Whether or not Mabel had fully returned Jacob's affections wasn't relevant. Jacob was the person she knew and he was obviously hurting.

"I'll be fine," Jacob said gruffly when her sympathetic gaze grew too much for him. "That's the last one, let's get to work."

She nodded, letting the subject drop and followed behind him.

Jacob, to his credit, really tried to keep being grumpy and not engage with Cassandra. But the girl was . . .well she was walking sunshine and he couldn't help but respond to that. He probably could stand to learn some life lessons from the woman, quite honestly, if he'd take the time to talk to her. He'd been holding her at arm's length because he was attracted to her. But she was worth getting to know for her sake and maybe he should try. He was starting to think he wouldn't mind having her as a friend, even if nothing more ever came of it.

"You know," he said with a grin when he realized she'd become engrossed in one of the books. "We'd get this done faster if you didn't read them."

Cassandra looked up, blushing almost the same color as her pink eyeglasses. "Oops."

But turn about was fair play a few minutes later when she teased him about reading one of the books too.

They were having a joint laugh about a collection of books that didn't belong to either of their departments.

"We don't even have a cookbook section do we?" Cassandra asked, passing the book over to Jacob.

"Nope," he flicked through the pages looking intrigued. "Maybe we should have one though? This looks real interestin'."

"Do you cook?"

"Yeah, not as much as I used to . . .gets boring cooking for one. . . ." He trailed off, thinking that he didn't want to go down that road again, not when his mood had improved.

"Yeah, I understand," Cassandra bit her lip but then changed what she was going to say. "Flynn probably wouldn't mind if you kept that for a bit though."

"Just might," Jacob said, putting the book on his desk. "Huh."

"What?"

"We got everything sorted and it's just gone lunch time."

"What can I say?" Cassandra grinned. "You and I make a good team, we're a well-oiled machine."

He smiled back. "Wanna go grab some lunch?"

"Thought you'd never ask. You can tell me about that book I had to physically pull out of your hands."

Jacob laughed, following her out of the office. "Yeah and you can tell me about the one I took out of yours."

Cassandra just laughed and he thought that maybe Mondays weren't so bad after all.


	5. Murophobia

For rogueprincessdanie's prompt "Cassandra is scared of mice and Jake comes to her rescue."

* * *

It was a fairly ordinary day at the bookstore. Jacob was in the middle of stocking books in the art section of his department when he heard a shriek coming from the opposite side of the divider wall that separated his department from science. He stepped down off the ladder and hurried around the corner.

The section was deserted, which was good because Cassandra was standing in the middle, her face initially as white as her little lacy ankle socks. When she saw him though she flushed, matching the pink swirls in her blouse.

"What on Earth? Cassandra, you okay?"

"I saw . . .oh gosh, you're gonna laugh. But it was right there and . . . ." Cassandra started to shake and Jacob walked over to her, took her arm and led her over to a chair.

"Okay, what's going on? Is it the synesthesia again?"

"No," Cassandra shook her head. Then lowered her voice and muttered something in an embarrassed tone.

"Didn't catch that."

Cassandra sighed. "I have murophobia."

 _Fear of mice and rats. Okay so they were gettin' somewhere._ "Where did you see it? Rat or mouse?"

"Over . . . ." Cassandra pointed toward the wall. "I think it was a mouse. It was little and probably harmless but . . . ." She shook.

"Hey, hey, hey. Fears are nothing to laugh at. I've got that about spiders. Even tiny ones," he shuddered. "And I don't know them rodents are kinda creepy. My family's in oil, but my mom's folks have a farm and sometimes I'd sleep out in the barn and them rustlin' around out there. . . ." He stopped as Cassandra's face paled again and hated himself for rambling on.

"I . . .when I first moved out of my parents' house, I didn't have any money really. I was just 19 and I shared this tiny apartment with three other people. And we had rats. I was never scared of them before, but they'd come out at night and oh God," Cassandra looked like she was going to be sick. He didn't much blame her. He'd been lucky to have Flynn's help and his apartment, even though it was tiny, was clean and comfortable. He hoped Cassandra had a nicer place now.

"Okay," he said when he was sure Cassandra wasn't going to hyperventilate. "I'm gonna see if I can find the thing."

"Don't . . .don't kill it." Cassandra called after him as he walked over to the wall. He smiled, she was so sweet.

"I won't, hopefully I can catch it."

He was a bit worried that it was a rat and not a mouse. New York City rats weren't something he really wanted to mess with. Just then he saw a blur and heard a muffled sound from Cassandra across the room. He bent down and saw it. It was a smallish brown mouse, should be fairly easy to catch. He leaned back on his heels, thinking it over. Then he got up and turned to leave the section.

"Where are you going?" Cassandra asked, peeking through her fingers.

"Janitor's closet to get a broom and a box."

Cassandra followed along behind him, clearly not wanting to be in the same area as the mouse. She remained by the closet when he went back.

She wrung her hands and paced until Jacob returned, the broom under his arm and the box (with a couple of holes punched in the top) closed.

"It should be safe to go back in there now," Jacob said.

"Can I . . .can I see it?" Cassandra asked, creeping closer.

"Okay, but don't get too close. Don't know where it's been."

"Right," she nodded and Jacob (who'd put on a pair of work gloves, just in case) opened the box a little.

The mouse was tiny and almost cute. Cassandra stood back a distance but when it turned its head and looked at her, she jumped back.

"Okay, time to take our little friend outside." Jacob handed Cassandra the broom and headed toward the stairs.

When he came back, she was behind the coffee bar.

"Thought I'd make you your favorite latte as a thank you."

He smiled at her. "Let me go put these back."

"I'll bring it up to you."

Cassandra seemed to be gone longer than it should have taken to make a latte. Jacob shrugged, she'd probably had a customer or been called to do something for Jenkins. It wasn't like he really was needing the latte anyway. So he went back to his stocking duties.

About ten minutes later, Cassandra appeared, holding to go coffee cup and a paper bag with the logo of his favorite bakery.

"Cassie?" he asked, a smile on his face. "Did you run out and get me cookies?"

"I did," she beamed. "Thank you so much for taking care of the mouse for me. And not killing it. Consider it a thank you."

"Well, you're welcome. You want one?"

Cassandra giggled. "I got myself a couple, but thanks for the offer."

"Any time. Hey, you don't live in a place like . . . ."

"No," she shook her head. "Until recently I lived with several roommates in a brownstone, but after my recovery for surgery, the same benefactor that paid my remaining bills gave me enough money to live for a year in an apartment in this neighborhood. It's tiny, but it's clean and comfortable."

Stone lifted his eyebrows. He named a street and they found out that they lived in buildings across the street from each other.

"Odd that we never run into each other," Cassandra said. "Though I suppose we don't often come in at the same time."

"Yeah, that is weird," Jacob looked at the clock and sighed. "Geez, I gotta get finished up here. I've gotta clock out for class soon."

"I thought so. That's why I made your latte a double and to go. Need fuel for studying. Have a good night!"

"Thanks, Cassie. You too."

Cassandra handed over the coffee and cookies and skipped off toward her department. Jacob watched her go, he had a feeling he knew who her benefactor was. The same one who'd profoundly changed his life.

"Flynn," he laughed. "Flynn, what are you up to?"


	6. Flynn

Flynn Carsen sometimes, during flights of fancy, liked to refer to himself as a philanthropic Batman. After all, he lived in a stately old manor, he had a butler, he was independently wealthy and he often conducted his charity in completely anonymity. He even had a downstairs office that Ezekiel Jones called the Bat Cave.

Okay, so a number of people knew what he was up too. So he only was a little like Batman. He was Batman if Batman was an academic who instead of fighting crime ran a bookstore and helped people by giving them opportunities instead of running around at night beating people up.

He'd spent his young adulthood using the family money to pursue his love of learning. He'd gone after degrees in subjects that interested him because he had the freedom to not have to worry about a career. When he'd come to be bored with academia, he'd inherited the bookstore from his grandfather who'd like Flynn, run it as a hobby. He'd found that he had a knack for the book trade, even in the 21st century when so many like places had failed. He'd expanded it, added the coffee bar and used it as a source of employment for some of his pet projects.

He did indeed have some business to take care of, his parents had both passed on in recent years and their wealth had passed to him. Luckily, since the bookstore was the only business he really had a knack for, he'd been blessed with Charlene as a personal assistant. She was so much more than that, she was a financial whiz who invested and took care of his money in a spectacular fashion.

He was so blessed with his staff: Jenkins who managed the bookstore so well, his butler Judson who ran the household and helped with his charity work and Charlene who basically was the heart of the Empire.

And he sighed as he walked into his office. . .Ezekiel Jones. Jones worked in the bookstore, of course, but he was also Flynn's computer whiz and really the key to the whole "Operation Batman" as Jones had dubbed it. Jones had been a hacker and a thief. Flynn occasionally was still in demand for lectures and had caught the boy (who had gotten cocky and underestimated Flynn's absent minded professor persona) trying to steal from a museum. Instead of turning Ezekiel in, Flynn had taken him in.

"I'm not Dick Grayson though," Ezekiel had joked.

Flynn was pretty sure Ezekiel still hacked. He knew he did as part of his search for candidates for the charity. But Ezekiel did have a good heart and he mostly did things because he could do them instead of having any ill intent.

"Ya know," the Australian said as Flynn came in. "I think Stone's figured out that Cassandra's one of your strays."

"Were you eavesdropping again?" Flynn sighed picking up papers that Charlene had left him to sign.

"Of course," Ezekiel smirked. "So come on, are you trying to match make them?"

"Match make who?" Eve asked, walking into the room and pausing to drop a kiss on Flynn's lips. "Jones, feet off the table."

"Yes, mom," Ezekiel smirked and Eve glowered at him.

"Call me that again and you won't have feet."

Flynn laughed and Ezekiel sighed. "Anyway, Flynn, you didn't answer."

"Yes, who are you matchmaking?"

"Flynn's meddling with Stone and Cassandra," Ezekiel said smugly.

"I am not! I don't match make!"

"What about me and Cindy?"

Baird rolled her eyes at that. "Jones, you coming to us and begging us to give a job to a washed up reality show contestant that you had a crush on is not matchmaking."

"Exactly! And helping Ms. Cillian out is a prime example of what we do here. She's a gifted young woman who needed help paying her medical bills so that she could pursue her dreams. She's planning on attending college when the new semester starts. She never had the chance before. She's a perfect example of the kind of person we help and the kind of person we chose to remain anonymous with."

"Unlike Stone," Jones pointed out.

"Stone doesn't know the full extent of the program," Flynn shrugged. "But what he needed was a friend to believe in him more than he needed the money or the job. So that's what I provided. The job and the money are just bonuses. And alright, when Cassandra needed the job, I thought maybe she might be good for Stone. But I'm not matchmaking, the man just got his heart broken. He could use a friend though."

Ezekiel didn't look convinced and even Eve was looking at him with narrowed eyes. "You didn't send Mabel to Paris did you?"

"No! Eve! I thought you knew me better than that. Did I help her when she came to me and asked for help? Yes, I did. But that was all her. And cross my heart, I knew nothing about Cassandra Cillian's personality until she came in for the interview. Judson found her and brought her to my attention. I thought her gifts and story fit the program. She was on the list of people who I'd helped who needed jobs. And she fit in best with the crew."

Ezekiel exchanged a glance with Eve and they both smirked.

"What? I do not meddle! Okay I do meddle. Meddle, we should call this Operation Meddle . . ." Flynn caught them looking at them again. "I meddle with jobs and opportunities and money. Meddling with money. Not with hearts. We don't match making meddle."

Eve sighed, letting it go. "Poor Jacob's still not over Mabel anyway. And Cassandra is having some trouble dealing with suddenly having a life. You'd think it would be easy, but she basically became a woman with that thing in her head, so her whole approach to relationships has been shaped by it. Everything temporary, nothing lasting. Poor thing."

"Well," Flynn clapped his hands, clearly getting uncomfortable with the topic. "What do you have for me today?"

"Right," Ezekiel clicked on a screen to bring up a family to help. "Greg Hastings, 35, married two kids . . . ."

Flynn breathed a sigh of relief to himself as Eve and Ezekiel were distracted. Flynn really hadn't set out to match make. He was telling the truth about how he'd never met Cassandra before the interview. Judson had brought the girl's plight to his attention via her doctor who was an old friend of Judson's. And he was telling the truth about how Cassandra had come to be interviewed. Cassandra had charmed both him and Jenkins, to be fair. But in the back of his mind, he'd thought the woman rather suited his friend. Flynn had started out befriending Jacob Stone in order to help him, but they'd become real friends as time went by. He'd never said anything about Mabel, even though he knew that was doomed from the start. Mabel had been good for Jacob in terms of getting him out of his shell. But Jacob, hopeless romantic that he was, had fallen in love and gotten hurt. Cassandra might be good for him, but a relationship wasn't in the cards any time soon. And as much as Flynn wanted to meddle and oh boy did he want to meddle, he knew it would be disaster to push them together before it was time. He'd put Cassandra in the bookstore. They'd have to work it out from there. Instead he'd have to find someone else's life to meddle in.

He turned his attention back to the presentation. Maybe these people in need would cure his need to meddle.


	7. Karaoke

Jacob overhears Cassandra singing and invites her to the gang's monthly karaoke night. Based on an anon prompt asking for Jacob hearing Cassandra sing. I took some liberties with Cassandra's singing voice here lol. Sorry it's been so long with this! I got a little blocked and then I had another fic take over. I am not good at multitasking at all which hasn't helped. Comments are love and so are prompts, you can put them in the comments or send me a PM

* * *

Jacob sometimes studied at the bookstore instead of back at his apartment or at the college library. For one thing, there was good coffee and for another, he had most of the books he needed in his section anyway. It was his day off, but he made sure he wasn't bothering any paying customers while he spread out on a table in his section. A half eaten scone lay forgotten next to his rapidly cooling beverage as he jotted notes down from the book he was reading. While he used a laptop, he was still rather old school about note taking and wrote things down on a pad. He looked down at his pen suddenly when he realized he'd been tapping it and swinging his foot to some sort of rhythm. Then he broke off the hum when he realized he'd also been humming.

 _What the hell?_ He started humming the tune again to try to figure it out. He sorta recognized it, but it wasn't something that he regularly listened to so it was eluding him.

He laid his pen down and forced himself to be still and listen. That's when he heard it, the sound of a voice singing over on the other side of the thin dividing wall. Cassandra's section. That was very odd. He knew she was working today but he looked around first. He didn't see any customers in his section or what little he could see of hers from his vantage point. He got up and quietly made his way around the wall.

Then he stifled a laugh when he got a look.

Cassandra was twirling around her section, completely alone.

"One fine day, you'll look at me and then you'll know our love was meant to be. " She hummed and then he had to put his hand over his mouth when she got into "shooby dooby dooby dooby doo wop wop," complete with a little dance and hand motion.

"One fine dayyyyyy, you're gonna want me for yourrrr girrrrllll." Cassandra drew out the line having fun with it, as she finished she twirled toward him and froze.

"Oh," she blushed rather prettily. "Jacob! I didn't know you were here, isn't it your day off?"

"Yeah, I came in here to study," he pointed over his shoulder at his table.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't know anyone was in here. I . . .well, you know how numbers are colors? Well science is music, it's not bad as it used to be, but I was reading the back of a book I was shelving and the musical notes reminded me of this song. I'm really sorry to disturb your studying."

"It's fine," Jacob laughed. "Really. I mostly noticed because I started tapping along."

"Oh," Cassandra giggled. "Well, I suppose that's good?"

Jacob paused looking at her, then nodded. "You're pretty good actually . . .uh, has anyone approached you about the karaoke contest?"

"I remember Cindy saying something about it last month but I had something that night so she didn't get into any details."

"Are you free next Friday?" Jacob asked, his tone eager.

"Yes," Cassandra nodded. "Is that karaoke?"

"Yes, once a month we go during competition night. The bar has a contest for prizes, but we also use the standings for bookstore bragging rights. The team that scores the highest gets a lunch bought for them."

"Do you always go with teams?"

"Well, not always, but it always seems to be better on the standings if you sing a duet. Plus, I mean we've been kinda . . .well Baird and Flynn, obviously. And Cindy and Ezekiel. And I well . . . ." Jacob sighed. "I've been flying solo the last couple of months and well, I haven't won. You might just be my secret weapon, that is if you're game."

"Well," Cassandra looked nervous. "I've never sung in public before. I don't know if I'd be up for it."

Jacob looked rather disappointed for a moment, but then swallowed. "Well, think it over. It really is just fun, everyone is just out to have a good time. The place we go is really low key."

Cassandra smiled at him. "I'll let you know, I promise."

"Okay, I'm gonna go get a fresh coffee and get back to my books. Catch ya later, Cassie."

* * *

"So Jacob wants me to come to karaoke with you guys, but I don't know," Cassandra was saying to Cindy as they collected mugs for washing behind the coffee bar.

"Oh!" Cindy looked delighted. "You totally should come! It's so much fun. Everyone has come, even Mr. Jenkins."

"Really?" Cassandra looked across the store at the manager who was writing something in one of his ledgers while minding the register.

"Oh sure! Only once though. He sang Sinatra's _My Way_."

Cassandra giggled a little. "Was he any good?"

"He was amazing," Cindy said with a grin. "He not only won our competition, he won the whole thing!"

"And he won't go back?"

"Nope," Cindy shrugged. "Said something about it being a hard act to follow." She laughed, starting to fill the sink. "He even gave us the bar dollars he won, so the next night out was on him. He's done the best out of us really. Back when Mabel was around, she and Jacob sometimes would get in the top five. Jacob's actually a pretty good singer, but a lot of the ones who win really take it so seriously. We're just out for fun and bragging rights."

"Is it scary? I mean with the people taking it seriously."

"Nah," Cindy shook her head. "Like 90% of the people in it are just goofing around. We kinda all know who is gonna win, so I think there's a lot of informal competitions like ours among the rest of us. I mean it's scary at first going up there . . .but I was on a reality show." Cindy sighed then started washing mugs with gusto. After a few moments, she started talking again. "So that's really nothing compared to that. And let Flynn and Baird go first, you won't be nervous after those two cornballs."

"Flynn I can see," Cassandra giggled. "But honestly I can't see Baird acting like that."

"Oh, you'll totally see why they get along like they do when you go out with them. I mean Flynn is the sweetest guy in the world, but yeah, he's a major dork."

"That's one way to put it. And Baird is I mean, she looks like a supermodel, so I get what he'd see in her. But she's so serious and everything."

"Yeah, you'll see," Cindy said, "that is if you're coming."

"I think I just may, it sounds really interesting."

* * *

Cassandra took a sip of her beer and realized Cindy was right about Flynn and Baird. The blonde apparently thought Flynn was the most hilarious person on the planet. He certainly had his moments, but Cassandra wasn't sure he was as funny as Eve evidently thought.

Cassandra was learning all kinds of things about her co-workers and boss. She hadn't known that Ezekiel lived with Flynn and Baird.

"I'm his ward, he's like Bruce Wayne," Ezekiel joked.

Flynn rolled his eyes at what Cassandra assumed was an old joke between the two. "I was legally his guardian for a year until he turned 18. But you know here he is 23 and still in my house."

"Hey, I've got my own wing, rent-free, you think I'm gonna bail on a good thing like that?" Ezekiel grinned. "And you could charge me rent or kick me out and you don't. So I think you kinda like me."

Flynn shrugged as Eve added, "you have your moments."

She also learned Jacob had a rather competitive streak. And pouring over song books with him, she could feel her own competitive streak, the one that had lead to many trophies in the years before the tumor, flaring up.

"I mean we could do a love song, I suppose, most of these duets are." Cassandra sighed.

"Yeah, but that's expected . . . and I kinda . . . " he grimaced and took another gulp of his beer.

"All love song karaoked out?" Cassandra guessed, remembering that he used to pair with his ex. She imagined that the last few monthly outings had featured break up songs as well.

"Something like that," he smiled at her, happy not for the first time, that she understood him so well that he didn't have to spell it out.

"Hmm," Cassandra said, pondering a selection. "I imagine your voice leans more toward rock and country, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"How about _Life is a Highway_? It's not a love song, it's catchy, it should work with both of our voices and it's just different enough from what people expect to get us up the board."

"You are a genius!"

Cassandra laughed. "Yes, yes I am."

Ezekiel and Cindy were up first from their group. They did _Anything You Can Do_ from _Annie Get Your Gun_ and Cassandra thought she'd die from laughter. Their singing wasn't actually all that good but they put a lot of effort into the acting which made it highly entertaining.

A bit later, Flynn and Eve were called up. They sang _I've Got You Babe_ with all of the earnestness of a pair of people who may have had one too many shots of liquid courage to get on stage.

"Oh my god," Cassandra muttered. "Are they drunk?"

Jacob tilted his head and pondered. "He is. I'm not sure about Baird. But I ain't askin' her."

"Well I do know that I'm way less nervous now. We'll have no problem kicking their asses."

"Cassandra!" Jacob said her name in a shocked tone as if he'd never heard a woman swear before.

That sent Cassandra into a fit of giggles that lasted until they were called up to the stage.

For all of her confidence going in, Cassandra was a bit nervous. She could block out the audience, who were friendly anyway. But all the others had sung together before, several times. She and Jacob hadn't even done a practice run. She'd only heard him sing tonight during a few sing-a-longs lead by the performers and that wasn't really enough to judge how well they'd sound together. At least she knew from that that he could sing. She mentally crossed her fingers.

They'd agreed beforehand what parts to take, with Jacob starting off and of course, both singing the chorus. They got up on the stage, shared a look, Jacob gave her a reassuring touch on the arm and then they were singing.

They'd agree to come in together right before the first chorus and it was coming off and they were off, Cassandra finding that they blended fairly well as they sang, "ee won't hesitate to break down the garden gate. There's not much time left today."

Cassandra almost laughed but managed to keep from getting off focus as the audience began singing along to the well known chorus. She'd seen it happen over the course of the night, had joined in herself. Jacob started playing it off, holding his mic out to the crowd like a rock star.

It was the most relaxed she'd ever seen him, so she let herself slip into the song, dancing around to the music as they sang. He twirled her at one point near the end her skirt swirling around her and she was lucky she hadn't a line because she had to catch her breath from the laughter and excitement.

When they were finished, the crowd began to cheer and she looked over at Jacob, who beamed and pumped his fist. They might not be up in the top to get bar dollars, but she was pretty sure they had a lunch now with their names on it.

And sure enough, they actually placed fifth. In his excitement, Jacob actually lifted her up as she hugged him, twirling them both around in a circle as they laughed. Then suddenly they both stopped, looking at each other. After a long moment in which time seemed to stand still, his eyes left hers and flicked down to her lips briefly, but as they went back to looking in her eyes, the moment was broken by Ezekiel calling their names. Jacob was pretty sure Cassandra rolled her eyes as he broke the embrace and turned his head toward the younger man.

Ezekiel was doing an eye roll of his own. "Okay, okay, I get that you won and all, but the driver's here and he's double parked, so we need to get a move on."

Cindy's voice drifted over the din, "oh gross, why did you buy them tequila?"

"Oh," Cassandra said wrinkling her nose. "This is not gonna be a fun ride."

"Nope," said Ezekiel cheerfully, heading back.

Jacob's eyes met hers and they broke into laughter, the moment completely over.

"This normal?" she asked, bumping her shoulder against his.

"Yeah, pretty much. But you had fun, right?"

"I did! We should totally do this again."

Jacob chuckled. "Yeah, we make a pretty good team."

"We should form a band," Cassandra said as they made their way out. "Cillian and Stone."

"That sounds too folky."

"Cassandra and Jacob sounds lazy. The Final Drafts?"

"No, just no."

"Old Book Smell?"

"Cass . . . ."

"Oh, I know, the Bibliotechnos!"


	8. The Kitten

Jacob Stone was looking forward to a relaxing evening. Classes didn't resume for another two weeks, he'd finished his latest essay ahead of schedule and he had absolutely nothing on his plate. He'd just finished dinner (his favorite homemade pizza) and was settled in on his sofa with a beer and a _Chopped_ marathon off his DVR.

"Good luck with that basket," he mumbled as Ted Allen announced the ingredients for the entree round, just as he heard a knock on his door.

He looked confused, he wasn't expecting anyone, he thought about ignoring it, but the knocking continued. So sighing, he paused the show, put down his beer and shuffled to the door in his socks. He looked through the peephole and was even more confused. His co-worker, Cassandra Cillian, was standing outside.

"Cassie?" he asked as he opened the door. "What's up?"

That's when he noticed that the redhead was holding a large totebag and a wicker basket. He swore that he heard a sound, like a mewing coming from inside the basket.

"What is that?" Jacob asked, "why is it making noises?"

"Can I come in?" Cassandra asked, nodding toward the inside.

"Yeah, right, sure."

He ushered her in, but as soon as the door closed behind him, his hands were on his hips. "Cassandra?"

She smiled at him and he knew he was in trouble. It was the smile that always got her what she wanted. He knew the smile, knew it, but fell for it anyway. He couldn't help himself and he was quite sure that absolutely no one was immune to Cassandra's charms when she used that wiling look.

"Just stop, okay? What's going on?"

Cassandra put the basket on the floor, the noises from within growing louder. "It's a kitten!" she exclaimed opening the top and letting a small gray tabby out.

"Yes, I see that it is in fact a kitten," Jacob pinched the bridge of his nose. "The question is, why is it here?"

"Well, I found it today when I came back from registering for classes. Only, my building doesn't allow pets. But yours does!"

Jacob sighed. "Yes, yes it does. But my apartment does not."

Cassandra looked confused.

He sighed again and patiently said, "you can't just suddenly have a pet, Cass. You have to go and put down a deposit and sign an agreement to have a pet. Which I have not done, obviously, because I don't have a pet. So I cannot keep it, I could get in trouble just having it here."

"Oh," Cassandra looked crestfallen as the kitten snuggled on her lap on the floor. "It was all alone, Jacob. Poor little thing. What am I going to do? It's too late to call around to an animal rescue, I don't want to take it to the pound."

 _Damnit._ The woman looked like she was going to cry. And Jacob was as helpless against female tears as he was against that particular smile.

"Alright, fine," he said. "The kitten can stay here tonight. But only tonight, I am not in the market for a pet. "

She beamed up at him. "Thank you so much!"

"I don't have anything for a cat though," Jacob added.

"That's okay," Cassandra nodded toward the tote and indicated the sleeping animal. "I went into a pet store and got some food and a travel litter box kit. And a couple of toys and a blanket."

Jacob got the stuff out of the bag and noticed clothes inside. "Uh, Cass?"

"Well," she said sheepishly and blushed. "I was going to ask if I could stay too. I knew I was asking a lot for you to take him in. So I didn't want to have him bothering you."

That actually was very thoughtful of her. "Alright, I don't have a spare room but I can get you a pillow and blanket for the couch."

"That's fine. Thank you Jacob, for everything."

"You're welcome, Cass."

* * *

The kitten was still a bit shy and clingy to Cassandra, so she settled herself on the couch with the cat on her lap.

"Hope it doesn't have fleas," Jacob muttered, noting that Cassandra had taken his favorite spot. He rolled his eyes and moved his beer to the other end of the table and sat down.

"Oh," Cassandra's eyes were wide. "He doesn't seem to be itching. So that's a good sign right?"

Jacob shrugged. "Yeah, I'd guess. Don't know, never had a cat. My grandparents had some in their barn and they had a dog. But Pop wouldn't let us have anything . . . ." He bit his lip remembering a bad scene when he'd wanted a dog. He shook his head and reached for the remote. His father was dead and what was past was past. Maybe he'd get himself a dog after he was done with school, when he had more time for one.

"My parents wouldn't let me have a pet either," Cassandra said sadly. "And I do love cats. I've wanted one for a long time but I always end up either in pet free buildings or with roommates who didn't want them."

Jacob chuckled. "I've seen you wearing stuff with cats on them, I guess I assumed you had one."

"Nope, but maybe someday. Huh Fred?" She picked up the cat and kissed it on the forehead.

Jacob rolled his eyes again, god knows where that thing had been. But then it struck him, "Fred?"

"He looks like a Fred."

"Sure," Jacob just hit play on his remote.

By the time the second episode was on, Fred was much less scared of his new surroundings and was carefully exploring the living room, Cassandra hot on his heels.

"I'm not gonna get this watched, am I?" he said finally as they dashed in front of him during judging.

"Sorry," Cassandra said sheepishly, though he didn't think she was all that sincere. She'd seemed bored by the show when she had been paying attention.

Jacob sighed and found a hockey game to put on. The teams weren't ones he really followed, so Cassandra and the kitten's interruptions wouldn't bug him too much.

"I'm sorry," Cassandra said, this time with sincerity in her voice. Fred was running after a ball she tossed across the living room.

"For what?" he asked, looking up from the book he'd opted to read instead.

"I have a feeling we interrupted your evening. You didn't have to let us stay, but you seem a bit put out."

He nodded and put the book down. "I'm sorry if I've been grumpy. It's just that I was looking forward to a night just to myself, you know? School isn't that difficult, but it's been more work than I expected, especially as I'm getting near the end. Plus I have been writing for years and I do freelance art consulting. Then there's you know the bookstore. But it's okay, Cass, really. I do like you and . . . ." He outright laughed as Fred fell over his feet chasing the ball. "He is really cute."

"He is," she smiled. "I feel bad about the situation. I know you can't keep him."

"Not now, I'm sorry. I was thinking about a dog someday, but not until school's done. And even then I've been debating grad school."

"And we both work the morning shift, do you think Jenkins will have a fit if I bring him in with us?"

Stone laughed, "it's Jenkins."

"Yeah," she sighed. "Well if Flynn is actually in, maybe he can run interference. I'll call a rescue group first thing."

* * *

It was the middle of the night and Stone woke up thirsty. He carefully opened his bedroom door, not knowing where the cat was. Cassandra was asleep on the couch, the kitten curled up on her chest. The kitten wasn't sleeping though and watched Jacob with interest as he padded into the kitchen. Sure enough, moments later the feline was rubbing around Jacob's legs.

"You hungry?" he asked, pouring a bit from the bag Cassandra bought into the paper bowl that they'd been using as a cat dish.

Fred ate a little but then was back to rubbing against him, purring. Jacob chuckled and picked him up. "You just need a friend, huh? I know the feeling."

The couch taken, Jacob sat on his old beat up recliner in the corner of the living room with the cat. Which is where Cassandra found him the next morning, fast asleep, their new little friend still curled up on his lap.

She was laughing as they came into work that morning, Fred in tow.

"Are you sure you're not interested in keeping him?"

"Honestly, Cass, I would, but you know I'm not home that often. He'd get so lonely. I think older cats don't mind, but he seems to want attention right now. " He rubbed his neck, "I can't believe I fell asleep there. My neck is gonna kill me all day."

Cindy grinned at them as they entered together, Ezekiel wasn't quite there yet. "Morning you two, walk together today?"

"Um, no, I sorta stayed . . . ." then Cassandra blushed realizing how it might sound to their co-worker.

"Cassie . . . ." Jacob warned her and then laughed. "Ain't no way to explain without havin' her take it the wrong way. Unless you show her Fred."

"Fred?" Cindy asked, then squealed with delight when Cassandra opened the basket. "A kitten!"

"Cassandra found him, but her building doesn't allow pets. Mine does so they stayed the night last night. But I'm not home enough to keep him. So we brought him in here while she calls around looking for a shelter."

Cindy cooed. "I have two which is my building's max or I'd take him." she said sadly.

"A kitten!" came a delighted voice and Flynn suddenly bounced down the flight of stairs to pick him up. "How delightful! Did you get another one, Cindy?"

"No, Cassandra found him."

"Yeah," Cassandra said sadly. "But my building doesn't allow pets."

"And I'd take him but he's a real people cat and I'm hardly home," Jacob said, surprising himself with how sad he was about it. "And Cindy can't take another one."

"Well that's a shame," Flynn said, laughing as the kitten pawed at his pocket watch. "Oh, you are adorable. Hmm, I have an idea."

"What?" Cassandra asked.

"Well if you and Stone promise to take most of the responsibility for him, you can keep him here. Bookstores need cats! And we haven't had one since Mr. Tinker passed."

"Oh, I loved Mr. Tinker," Ezekiel said walking in. "Really cool fellow. He was Jenkins' cat you know."

"Really?" Cassandra giggled.

Just at that moment, Jenkins came in and just like that, he and Fred became fast friends.

Fred became a fixture in the bookstore, spoiled by staff (especially Cassandra and Stone) and customers alike. At night he slept in a bed in Jenkins office and during the day he had full range of the bookstore. He led a long and healthy life in the store and over the years, new cats joined him, all living a cat's life in the bookstore.


	9. Adventures in Dating

Six months had passed since Mabel had left and Jacob was attempting to get back in the saddle, dating wise. Which is why he was here in the wine bar down the street from the bookstore on another date with a woman he'd met through a dating app. He was pretty sure that this date was going about as well as the last date he'd had. Which was to say not well at all. Though at least he and Meredith were having a pleasant enough conversation. But there were no sparks at all.

Finally, she stopped talking and took the last sip of her wine. "This isn't working is it?" she asked with a little laugh.

He shook his head. "Nope. It's a shame too, we're having a decent time. It's just there's no . . . ." He gestured between them.

"Yeah," she said with a sigh. "Nothing at all. This kinda sucks, you're the kind of nice guy I'd really love to date. But there's no sparks at all. I think I'm gonna go. It was really nice meeting you, Jacob. Thanks for the drink. And good luck, you really deserve a nice girl."

"And you deserve that nice guy. It was nice meeting you, you gonna be okay getting home?"

"Gosh, you're sweet. Again this sucks. Have a nice night sweetie."

Then she got up and heading toward the exit. He watched her go, just because there wasn't a spark didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the show. Meredith was certainly a beautiful woman wearing a dress that showed off exactly what he was enjoying the view of. He was male after all and looking was all he was gonna get out of this night. He'd finally taken his eyes off of Meredith's backside as he caught a glimpse of slightly familiar floral print. His eyes clocked upwards and saw a redheaded woman entering the bar.

 _Cassandra?_ She had a date tonight, he remembered and she looked like her date hadn't gone that well. But different from his resignation about the state of affairs, Cassandra looked upset.

"Cassie!" he called over the din and the girl lit up momentarily, locating him in the crowd.

"Jacob," she said sliding into Meredith's vacated chair. "I thought you had a date?"

He shrugged. "Yet another Internet misfire. She at least was perfectly nice and we had a somewhat nice time, but there wasn't anything between us. So she left. I thought you had a date? Date number two with Lucy?"

"Ugh," Cassandra huffed. "She is so full of herself!"

"Ouch," he said, signaling for the waiter. "Isn't that what you said to me after date number three with that British guy?"

"Yeah," Cassandra sighed.

"He was too old for you, honestly. And Lucy seemed maybe too young?"

"Hey!" but her indignation was mostly mock and she ordered a glass of wine from the waiter.

"You're probably right. I mean she's a grad student and I'm technically a freshman, but I am older than she is for all of that. I don't know. Lance was so sophisticated and I thought he was so attractive, but underneath all that polish, he was pretty much a snob and it turned me off. Lucy, she gets something in her head, like tonight and there's no way of disagreeing with her. It's not like you or Cindy or Flynn or anyone at work. We don't always agree but we're civil about things."

"I'm sorry, kid. You want something to eat? Meredith and I never ordered anything."

"The cheese plate?"

Jacob nodded and ordered the cheese plate for two from the waiter who brought Cassandra's wine.

"I'm sorry it didn't work out for you either."

He shrugged. "That's how the game is played, they tell me. It's honestly a bit different here. Or I'm different. I mean, picking up girls in a bar back home was a whole . . . ." he cringed but Cassandra didn't look offended. "If I'm being honest, Mabel was probably the second lasting relationship I ever had. I was engaged once . . . ."

"Wow, really?" Cassandra leaned forward eyes wide.

"If you tell Cindy, I swear to god, Cassandra . . . ."

"I won't, I promise."

"Emma was a school teacher. Pretty, sweet, intelligent, really everything I've always wanted. I couldn't really believe my luck, because girls like that didn't want the guy I was pretendin' to be."

"Pretending?"

"Oh, yeah, that," he sighed. "No one knew about who I was. For years and years. It's a long complicated story, but I hid it all from them. I published under fake names and did all my studying and art consulting online. The only person who knew was Flynn. He kept encouraging me to come clean, but I just couldn't do it. Until my dad died and Flynn finally talked me into coming here."

"Wow, so your fiancée? Did she know?"

"She found out. She found my laptop, I'd forgotten to lock it. She didn't take my lying to her very well. That was five years ago. Then I met Mabel soon after I moved here. I should have . . .ah, well you probably have heard the rumors."

Cassandra cringed in spite of her best efforts and he nodded. The waiter came back with their food and some water. They both ate in silence for a while.

"For what it's worth, Jacob, I think Mabel doesn't know what she's missing."

He chuckled, a bit self mockingly. "Yeah, an old romantic fool who falls head over heels for girls who don't love him. That's me."

Cassandra shook her head. "I've never been in love. Not like that, not like the way you loved Mabel, the way you probably loved Emma. When I had my tumor . . . well I didn't want to form lasting attachments to anyone. And now, I'm looking for something deeper, more meaningful. But I seem to be choosing the wrong people. I'm still choosing the same people I had flings with. Lance and Lucy would have been great in the short term, but I can't have a conversation with either of them."

"That's a shame because you're really easy to talk to," Jacob said, putting some cheese on a cracker. He was intent on that and didn't notice Cassandra's wide eyed stare. He ate and then continued, "I find myself telling you all kinds of things. You deserve someone really great, Cassandra."

Cassandra set her glass carefully down as she considered his words. _How blind was she?_ The person she'd been trying to find was right in front of her. She opened her mouth to speak when a hard to place accent floated across the room.

"Jacob Stone, darling, I thought that was you."

A beautiful dark skinned woman with impeccable fashion sense drifted across the room. Cassandra couldn't help but stare, she didn't think anyone could not just look at her. She was exquisite.

"Lamia!" he grinned. "I didn't know you were back in town. Come join us!"

Lamia tilted her head toward Cassandra. "And who is this lovely creature?"

Jacob shook his head like he was being an idiot. "Lamia, this is Cassandra Cillian, she works with me at the bookstore. And Cassie, this is Lamia, she's a well, she's many things."

Lamia laughed her melodic laugh and settled in at the table, setting her glass of champagne down. "He's right, I do many things. I've been a journalist, an embassy worker, an archeologist. Currently I'm back to guest lecturer at the university that Jacob attends."

"Oh!" Cassandra said. "I'm a new student there myself."

"Ah," Lamia purred. "You're one of Flynn's projects, like Jacob. You're in very good hands with Mr. Carsen." She shook her head. "Shame that man is taken. But I would never cross Eve Baird. What is your major dear?"

"I'm double majoring in mathematics and chemistry."

"Impressive. Then you may be interested in my lecture series. I'm currently exploring Mayan civilization and I have some exciting new findings on architecture as it relates to math and astronomy."

"Wow," Cassandra said. She could see the topic interested Jacob as much as it did her. She tabled her revelations about Jacob in favor of enjoying Lamia's company.

Lamia was a bit odd, but she wasn't pompous or arrogant. Cassandra had initially thought she was just a little but she quickly realized that Lamia was just very confident. Cassandra only wished she could be as confident as Lamia was. It was very attractive, honestly, Lamia was beautiful, yes, that was a given. But she was fascinating and confident and intelligent. It was an odd experience because she could tell Jacob was just as intrigued and attracted to the other woman as she was. Cassandra was now confused because now she was starting to feel jealous but she wasn't sure if she was jealous of Jacob's interest in someone else or of Lamia's clear interest in him. Maybe it was both. It was starting to give her a headache because she just didn't know what to think. Especially when Lamia slipped her a card when Jacob had gone to the restroom.

"Give me a call sometime, darling," Lamia said with a wink. "Maybe we can talk a bit more."

Now Cassandra really did need to go home. It had been a really weird night. When Jacob came back, she excused herself.

"Are you okay?" Jacob asked, even though she knew he'd had at least two more glasses than she had.

"Yeah, I have the morning shift and I'm beat. Been a long day. I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright, be careful getting home."

Cassandra hugged him and said good night to Lamia, who winked at her when she left.

"Lovely girl, I gave her my card, I was getting the vibe off her."

Jacob took a gulp of his wine. "If you mean that she'll date women, yeah."

Lamia laughed. "She dates men too, I assume, given how she was looking at you when I interrupted."

"Well yeah, she does . . . .wait, what do you mean how she was looking at me?"

"Cowboy," Lamia shook her head. "You cannot possibly be that blind."

Stone groaned. "I like Cassie. I like her a lot. But she's . . . ."

"Special?" Lamia asked, her voice now gentle. "And you're afraid."

He nodded. "She's . . .it's a long story but she was once very sick, for a very long time. She's better now, but she's just now living the life she didn't have. She's never been in love, Lamia, never had a meaningful relationship. And she wants that so much. I can't . . . ."

Lamia made a noise like a scoff. "Of course, you can, cowboy. You're as special as she is. You could be amazing together."

"I can't live up to that! What if I hurt her? She's too important to be a rebound."

She clicked her tongue and rolled her eyes. "So that's what the whole dating app thing is about? You're looking for a rebound?"

"Yeah," Jacob had the grace to blush.

"Well, well," Lamia leaned back and drained her glass. She studied him over the edge of the glass, a bit like a predator sizing up her prey. Stone felt like he should possibly be scared but instead, he was intrigued and possibly a bit turned on.

"If you're looking for a rebound, then I'm your girl," she said finally.

"Wait, what?"

"You'll be picking me up tomorrow at 7pm, make reservations at that sushi place I like," she leaned across the table and kissed him. It was a brief kiss, not sweet but fun, uncomplicated. "Good night, Jacob."

"Well, okay then. Night Lamia, see you tomorrow."

Jacob sat for a few minutes after Lamia left. He wasn't quite sure this was a good idea, he'd sensed that Cassandra was interested in Lamia too. But if he was ever going to move on, even if it wasn't to Cassandra, he had to get the last bits of Mabel out of his system. Lamia was the safest way to do that. She was amazing, Lamia, but he wasn't going to be in any danger of falling for her. He knew her well and knew she was all about complication free relationships. He'd had those kind of flings with girls back in Oklahoma and usually found them empty. But right now? A simple, uncomplicated arrangement with a woman who could converse with him about art? That sounded absolutely perfect. He grinned. This was gonna be a lot of fun.


	10. Hey Jealousy Part 1

Cassandra hadn't seen Jacob in a few days due to their various work schedules. It gave her time to think about her revelations at the wine bar. She'd decided her feelings were valid, not the result of being somewhat tipsy and discouraged about her love life. She really did want someone to love her the way Jacob Stone loved someone. And she wanted someone like him: kind, strong (but gentle when it counted, like with Fred), intelligent, quiet but when he spoke it was important, loyal, dependable and with a sense of humor. But did she want Jacob himself? She'd gone back and forth about it. It wasn't the work thing that gave her pause, hell their work place was like a soap opera, all of the coupling up. But Jacob was a bit on the rebound and he'd been hurt very much by the women he'd loved in the past. Would she be able to measure up to love like his? She'd never been in love so she didn't know if she could. He meant the world to her, she could never hurt that man. So she was left completely unsure as to what to do.

Then there was Lucy. Lucy had sent her flowers, her favorites, with a lovely note of apology and hopes that they could try again. So Cassandra had made arrangements to go out for coffee with her. She figured after an apology like that, it was worth giving her one more chance.

But today Jacob and she were working the same shift. He'd brought her a muffin, one of her favorites and had gotten her tea ready when she walked in. She swore her heart fluttered when he'd handed it to her. She knew what she wanted. She'd already made plans to see Lucy the next day, she was going to tell her that it had been nice, but she just didn't see them working out. Then she was going to talk to Jacob. She'd been too busy to really talk to him that morning and she wanted to make a clean break with Lucy first (even though they weren't really seeing each other, it still was the decent thing to do). She'd gone home for lunch and was coming back to work when she spotted Lamia standing outside of the store.

She felt that hint of attraction she'd felt before for the exotic woman, but that was it. Not now that she'd made up her mind about who she really wanted.

Jacob came out of the store, smiling at Lamia, who then slung her arms around his neck. He leaned over and casually but quite thoroughly kissed her. Cassandra froze on the sidewalk and suddenly the entire world was deep red. She didn't come out of it until someone bumped into her, swearing as they passed. Everything was still tinged a bit red, but Lamia and Stone were nowhere to be seen.

"What the hell?" Cassandra said out loud, realizing that her breath was coming in shallow pants and her hands were curled into fists. _Was that jealousy?_ It wasn't the first time that strong emotion had actually caused her mind to imagine colors, blue for sadness, indigo for grief for example. But red was a new one for her.

She didn't know what to do. But she went back to work and went through the motions of her day.

* * *

That evening she found herself at the bar that the bookstore crew sometimes went to after work. She was picking at some mozzarella sticks and nursing a beer. She was just at her wit's end and not sure what to do. This is when she wished she'd made some good friends outside of work. Cindy and Baird would be great to talk to about guy or girl trouble, but not when the guy was Jacob. It just was too awkward. They were his friends first, especially Baird. And even now when she thought of him, the world got just a little red.

She had stronger feelings than she thought for the man. She'd been trying to remind herself that she'd only wanted someone like him, not necessarily him. But the truth was that she'd been falling for him for a long time. She didn't develop the feelings that night in the bar. They'd just all fallen into place for her.

She couldn't blame Jacob for dating Lamia. If she hadn't been puzzling out her feelings for Jacob and wondering what to do about Lucy, she probably would have called the woman for a date herself. But Lamia wasn't the reason she was jealous. Lamia could kiss anyone in the world and Cassandra wouldn't care. Anyone but Jacob Stone.

She groaned and buried her face in her hands. How did you get over someone you never had in the first place?

Just then she felt someone slide into the booth next to her.

"What the?" she mumbled and then a familiar aftershave hit her nostrils the minute before a familiar Australian accent said, "hey you okay, kid?"

"Ezekiel, hey," she said, lifting her head. "Cindy with you?"

"Nah, she had some stuff to do tonight. I thought I saw you and hey I was right." He bit his lip. "Look, Cin handles this sort of thing, but if you need help . . .like you know breaking into someone's house or something. I'd volunteer Stone to beat someone up for you."

Cassandra let out a laugh. "Actually I could use some advice . . .um for a friend."

"Right," Ezekiel said. "What's wrong with your friend?"

"She's got feelings for this guy, but it's kinda complicated."

Ezekiel shrugged, "yeah, tell me a new one."

"Well, my friend is kinda seeing someone but it's going nowhere and they had a fight. So a few nights ago, she was drowning her sorrows with the guy she likes and he was having similar problems. And she realized he was the one . . . .but they hadn't seen each other for a few days and today she found out he's with someone. "

"Sounds like a Cindy problem," Ezekiel said, even though he was putting two and two together. Even though he knew something that apparently Cassandra didn't.

"Yeah, I know, but I just . . . . You're a guy. Do you think my friend should fight for the guy? Or should she just try to give it a go with the person she's with?"

Ezekiel shrugged and then sighed, realizing Cassandra wasn't gonna let this go. He really wished Cindy or Baird or even Flynn were here. "Well, your um friend doesn't seem into the person she's dating."

Cassandra shrugged. "I wouldn't even call it dating, couple of dates and they seem to always end up fighting."

"Well if it were me, I'd make the guy jealous. I'd find out where he was going with this other chick and show up with a date. Make him realize what he's missing."

Cassandra mulled it over, drinking her beer. On one hand, that sounded really brave and daring, everything she wasn't sure she could be. On the other hand, it kinda sounded fun. Make Jacob want her. She kinda hated using Lucy like that, but then again, she'd planned on breaking it off with her anyway. Lucy would find the right girl eventually. And if Lucy backed out, well Lance had been sending her texts. And she knew that Jacob really had never approved of him at all.

Finally she said, "I'll pass it along, see what she thinks. Thanks for listening, Ezekiel. Hey, want the rest of my cheese sticks? I think I'm going home."

"Like you have to ask," Ezekiel said grabbing for her basket. They were cold but he didn't care. "Night Cassandra, take care."

* * *

Cindy approached her boyfriend late the next morning and pulled him by the arm into the stock room.

"Babe, I know I'm irresistible but we're gonna get in trouble for coming back here for a pash."

Cindy rolled her eyes. "Did you give Cassandra advice last night?"

"Oh that."

Cindy put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, that. She's still telling me it's for a 'friend'" and Cindy made air quotes. "But she's basically trying to get me to spy on Jacob."

"Yeah, I kinda figured she was into him."

"You could have told her that he and Lamia are not at all serious!"

"And miss the fun?" he grinned. "Come on Cin, think about this. Stone's a . . . ."

"Really sweet, amazing guy who would be perfect for Cassandra?"

Ezekiel rolled his eyes but reluctantly nodded. "He's also as slow as a glacier. No, glaciers move faster. I'm guessing the fox asked him out, because I don't see him doing it. And you know how he looks at our favorite ginger."

Cindy giggled a little. "The way you look at a diamond." She sighed. "I get it. He thinks she's too precious to be touched by him. Wish I knew what happened to him to make his self esteem so bad. Mabel used to complain about it. Course, she wasn't Cassandra who'd be trying to build him up instead of just rolling her eyes."

"So she makes him make a move! She goes out with her usual bad choices, guy or girl who is perfectly fine but not for her. He's gonna sit there and complain the whole time to Lamia about what the hell Cassandra is thinking."

"But all that's gonna do is make Lamia mad right?"

Ezekiel laughed. "Most women yes. But Lamia? She's got a lot in common with Flynn. Fairy godmother syndrome. I bet she's half going out with Stone in the first place cuz she knows he wants Cassandra."

Cindy just blinked at him and looked confused. "I don't get it."

"It's okay, trust me. She'll help make the push, she really will. And we'll all be happy. We won't have to watch those two make bad choices. Lamia gets off on thinking she's manipulating people. And Stone and Cassandra will have insanely smart little blue eyed gingers."

Cindy raised her hand like she was going to ask a question but instead shook her head. "But isn't this meddling? You know what you told me Eve yelled at Flynn about?"

Ezekiel shrugged. "Not if Cassandra is asking us to do it. That's doing her a favor. And friends do favors for each other, don't they?"

Cindy sighed but slowly nodded. It did kinda sound like something out of a rom com and she'd always wanted to be an actress. "Okay, then what do we need to do?"

"I'll get the info about where he's taking his date tonight and you'll pass it off to Miss Cillian. Then we sit back and see how it goes."


	11. Hey Jealousy Part 2

Cassandra sat at her kitchen table, pondering at the text from Lucy that said she wanted to meet. Two dates into _Operation Make Jacob Jealous_ and all Cassandra thought she was succeeding in doing was making Lucy upset. Date number one had little impact as far as Cassandra could see. Jacob had indeed noticed her and Lucy enter the bistro but his attention was quickly back on Lamia. To be fair, Cassandra was not very good at the game either and had gotten interested in her own date, which had gone fairly well . . . until after they'd left the bistro. Then she and Lucy had had a loud disagreement over Lucy's experiments, which Cassandra frankly thought were more in the realm of science fiction than science fact.

This had lead to it being Cassandra's turn to send flowers and an apology. Last night's date had been awkward and Cassandra was fairly certain that Lucy had noticed her staring at Jacob and his date.

She was pretty sure that Lucy wanted to end things and it probably was for the best. Cassandra was angry with herself. She never should have used Lucy like this. If she was gonna make Jacob jealous, she should have gotten someone in on the plot to help her. Not that she had anyone that Jacob didn't already know, but still, that was the decent thing to do. Maybe she could talk to the cute guy in the bakery they frequented, she was pretty sure he wasn't interested in girls, but he might be willing to her a favor.

She put her head in her hands, what was she doing? She needed to cut this out, break things off with Lucy and hope that things weren't all that serious between Jacob and Lamia. Maybe they'd burn out quickly.

She met Lucy at the coffee place down the road from the bookstore.

"I got you a chai since I know you don't drink coffee," Lucy said softly, coming up to the table.

"Thank you," Cassandra said, matching her tone. "Lucy, look, it's . . . ."

Lucy shook her head taking the seat across from her. "You're gonna say it's not me, it's you. But that's not entirely true."

"Well," Cassandra said, "seriously Lucy, it's . . . ."

"Cassandra, we have gone on four dates and there have been two flower exchanges in that time. And these are apology flowers not I'm thinking of you flowers." Lucy laughed. "We're just not meant to be. And besides, I think you're interested in someone else. But I'm not sure if it's that cute guy or his hot date."

Cassandra sighed, "well, I mean she's gorgeous. But it's not her it's him. And it's kinda something more than just interest."

Lucy nodded her head. "Oh, Cass, you're terrible at making him jealous, you know."

"I know," she groaned. "And I am so so sorry, Lucy. I really am. I feel terrible about a lot of things. We really shouldn't date."

"Nope," Lucy agreed. "But I wouldn't mind you know tossing ideas off of you or going out for lunch sometimes. Or you know when I get Sheila Estes to notice me, going out on a double date with you and that cute guy."

"Sheila Estes? My TA? Oh, geez, no wonder she doesn't like me! I thought I did something to her!"

"Hmm, interesting," Lucy smirked. "You were afraid I was gonna yell weren't you?"

"Kinda, yeah. I'm sorry, I really am."

"It's okay, hon, really. We probably would have had the 'this isn't working out' talk after number three anyway. We're better off as friends. But it was fun when we weren't fighting, honest."

"Yeah," Cassandra grinned. "It was. Well, here's to hoping you and Sheila work out."

"He looks at you, you know. Now that I know. She was too, but she's kinda intimidating."

Cassandra nodded. "She's a bit unsettling. I met her once and she . . . well here's the thing. She gave me her number! And then three days later, she's sucking his face off in the street. Like, what? She was all trying to throw me off?"

"Or she wants both of . . . ."Lucy trailed off at the somewhat perplexed expression on Cassandra's face. "Wow . . .you really haven't gotten out much have you. Never mind."

"What?"

"Don't, just forget I said anything. I gotta get going. Good luck, Cassandra."

Cassandra frowned down at her chai. Well, she was back to square one. She was either going to have to hope Jacob and Lamia naturally broke up or she was going to have to be way braver than she'd ever been in her life and tell him how she felt. Neither one sounded like something that was happening any time soon. Why would he want her when he could have Lamia? Lamia was an adventurer, she'd done so much and she was so glamorous and beautiful. She could offer Jacob an education in well . . . . Cassandra blushed, cutting her thoughts off.

How could she compete? Here she was at 30, only a college freshman, working in a bookstore. She'd barely been outside of New York City her whole life. The few times she'd ever been anywhere at all had been science competitions when she was small, one family vacation to Montreal and the offices of medical specialists where she'd never really seen more than what was out the window of the cab from the airport.

She sighed. Guess she was going to have to go to plan b, which was somehow finding someone like Jacob Stone. _Good luck, Cassandra._

Her phone buzzed, an actual phone call, not a text. From Lance Dulaque of all people. She shrugged and answered it, the shop being fairly quiet on an off hour.

"Hello?"

"Ah, Cassandra, darling. I was wondering if you might do me a favor?"

"I suppose it depends, Lance," she answered.

"I have this charity function to attend at the science museum and I was in need of a date. It is tomorrow evening, would you be able to attend?"

"Is that the new ocean life exhibit?" Cassandra perked up, she'd been interested in it.

"Yes, it is," Lance chuckled. "I thought it would be something you'd be interested in. 8pm, cocktail attire, not too stuffy."

She might as well, _Operation Make Jacob Jealous_ was so far a failure. "I'll see you at 8pm then."

"Very good, until later, my dear."

"Bye, Lance."

Cassandra sat back in thought. She'd recently gotten a very lovely vintage cocktail dress. This would be an excuse to wear it. Too bad Jacob wouldn't be able to see it, because she knew she was a knock out in it. She smiled as she got up and headed out. Might as well make the best of things. She began to hum a little, not quite realizing it was _Life is a Highway_.

What Cassandra didn't know is that, engrossed as she was in her problems and dealing with Lucy, was that Lamia had been sitting at a table nearby. Lamia peered over her dark glasses as the other woman left.

She laughed to herself, dear Jacob was such an idiot. And sweet Cassandra was so naive. She'd overheard the name Lance, 8pm and ocean exhibit. She couldn't be certain, but she was fairly sure, that Lance was her old friend Dulaque. And the ocean exhibit could only be the charity benefit she'd also been invited to tomorrow evening. The cocktail party she'd sweet talked a fairly reluctant Jacob Stone into agreeing to come to as her date.

She laughed. "Let the games begin."


	12. Champagne High

Jacob Stone sighed as he adjusted his bolo tie in the mirror and looked over the suit he was already uncomfortable in. He'd tried, unsuccessfully, to talk his way out of attending this shindig with Lamia. But Lamia was very insistent, especially on his last attempt, and she did seem to have a knack for getting him to do things out of his comfort zone. This time, she'd said that there were going to be some very interesting people attending and that he would have no regrets. He grimaced, he already was having regrets and he hadn't even left his apartment.

He took a deep breath, trying to get himself psyched up. He really did owe Lamia, so he was going to suck it up and serve as her escort for the evening. They were probably coming to the end of the road anyway, at least in terms of them being a couple. There was only so far a non-sexual rebound relationship could really go.

Lamia had offered a sexual relationship, if he'd chosen it and they'd certainly had some fun fooling around. Lamia was an amazing kisser and he assumed she was equally amazing in bed. But Jacob had a firm rule about women and Lamia had so far respected his boundaries even though he hadn't exactly told her why he kept stopping. The thing was, he never slept with a woman while he was thinking of another one. Even in his wild oats days, he'd been focused solely on the girl he brought home, even if it was only for that night. It was easy enough in those days, given that he'd not been emotionally invested in anyone. That was part of the reason why it took him so long to get over a relationship and why there were such gaps between. When he fell he fell hard and he refused to break his rule just to scratch an itch.

The problem was, though, that in this rebound relationship, he'd realized he wasn't rebounding at all. He'd gotten over Mabel weeks, maybe months ago. But that didn't mean he wasn't thinking about a woman who was not his date . . . .

 _Cassandra_. He groaned, looking at the time and knowing he had to get going. Lamia's words when she'd offered to date him had of course, brought his feelings for his co-worker into the forefront. He'd had them for a long time, but he had refused to acknowledge them. Now even though he was supposed to focus on Lamia, he thought of the redhead all of the time.

It didn't help that she always seemed to be everywhere he was. On a date with someone else, laughing, having a good time. He'd been starting to think Lamia was wrong about Cassandra being interested in him at all. Though today he'd heard Baird and Cindy talking and overheard a comment about Cassandra and Lucy ending things.

Which is why tonight was it with Lamia. He'd escort her to this party and then he'd thank her for being there for him. Lamia would smirk at him, probably be smug about being right all along and wish him well. Lamia was fantastic, she really was.

He grabbed his keys and headed out the door, humming the tune to _Life is a Highway._

* * *

Jacob was actually having a really good time. Lamia was always a really great companion, no matter what they were doing. The food was fantastic and he probably would have been happy just hanging around the bar all night. Though he had developed an appreciation for wine since coming to New York, he still preferred beer. The bar didn't disappoint and he was already mentally making plans to track down the imported European beer he was enjoying.

Lamia wouldn't let him just eat all night, however, and she had him make the rounds. There were, of course, the usual socialites but this party had also attracted academics and intellectuals. Lamia made sure to introduce him to people she knew he'd enjoy meeting. He'd been having an interesting discussion about Dutch painters when Lamia went off to say hello to a friend across the room. The gentleman he'd been conversing with eventually excused himself to find his wife and Jacob was scanning the room for Lamia. He didn't see his date, thinking she may have gone to the restroom. He was debating just heading back to the buffet when his eyes caught someone across the room. He did a double take just to make sure.

 _Cassandra_. His eyes hadn't deceived him. She was smiling on the arm of the older British man she'd had a few dates with. His name always escaped Stone, though he knew it was something French. For whatever reason, the man had always rubbed Jacob the wrong way. He thought Cassandra was through with him, but he was mistaken.

Cassandra looked beautiful. Absolutely gorgeous in a vintage green cocktail dress that gently hugged her figure. He hadn't quite noticed her curves before, given that she had his fondness for layers. The green was the absolutely perfect shade of green for her, bringing out her hair and her striking eyes. He couldn't take his eyes off of her. If he'd actually noticed, he would have seen Lamia's knowing smirk as she re-joined him. But Jacob only had eyes for Cassandra and he really wasn't sure what he was going to do now. Cassandra giggled at something her escort said and Jacob clenched his fists.

"Easy there, cowboy," Lamia said softly.

"Huh, oh, hi Lamia, I was just uh thinking."

"Thinking about the beautiful ginger in the green dress?" Lamia asked, smiling.

"Lamia, look, I . . . .I was going to talk to you after tonight."

"Ah, I had a feeling our arrangement was coming to a close. I can't say I won't miss you, darling, but it was always the plan."

Jacob sighed. "I don't know if I have any hope with her now, though, honestly." He looked dejected and headed over to the bar.

Lamia stared after him dumbfounded. As if Dulaque was any competition! She had overheard the girls talking at the coffee shop. She knew that Cassandra was only doing this to make Jacob jealous. But it was backfiring as while the man was clearly jealous, he was so damn noble that he was going to give her up without a fight.

Lamia threw her hands up in the air. "For heaven's sake. Do I have to do absolutely everything?"

* * *

Cassandra hadn't noticed that Jacob and Lamia were at the party until she had seen him walking sadly away from Lamia. Her eyes had followed Jacob, so she'd not noticed Lamia's expression. Had they fought? Jacob looked rather upset. Cassandra really wanted to go to him, above anything else he was her friend and she wanted to offer him her support. But she wasn't really sure it was her place, especially since she didn't know why he was so upset.

She was still looking with some concern toward the bar when she heard Lamia's voice. Her eyes were wide as she turned toward the woman and Lance greeted her.

"Have you met Cassandra Cillian, my dear?"

"We have indeed. Actually," Lamia reached over and put her hand lightly on Cassandra's arm. "I was hoping you wouldn't mind if I borrowed your date for a few moments?"

Dulaque lifted his eyebrows but simply nodded. Cassandra was too perplexed to really speak, so she just followed Lamia. Oddly enough, Lamia lead her to a spot that was directly in Jacob's line of vision from where he was leaning against the bar.

"What's going on?" Cassandra asked.

"Do you have feelings for Jacob Stone?" Lamia asked bluntly.

"Well I . . . ." Cassandra stammered, she certainly wasn't going to tell his girlfriend how she felt.

Lamia rolled her eyes and huffed. "Oh for the love . . . .Apparently you didn't get the memo."

"What?"

Lamia shook her head. "Jacob and I aren't in a committed relationship. I wouldn't even call it a relationship, more like an arrangement. Enjoying each other's company for a while. I have absolutely no claim on him and I won't bite. I just need to confirm a hunch."

Cassandra's eyes went wide and she looked over to Jacob at the bar. He obviously had been watching the women as his eyes quickly dropped to his beer. She looked back at Lamia and on an exhale said, "yes. Yes, I do. But I thought . . .and nothing I was doing . . . ."

Lamia smiled. "Ah, darling, men are just not that bright. And Jacob Stone? He is everything you could want, but one of his virtues is also his undoing. He's far far too noble. He thinks you don't want him. Your little game backfired, sweetie."

"Oh no," Cassandra looked downcast. "Should I go talk to him?"

"Possibly," Lamia looked toward the man. She did have an idea that might possibly light a fire under the cowboy. If it didn't at least she might have a bit of fun tonight after all, given that she wasn't going to have any with Jacob. "But I have an idea that might light a fire under him."

"What?" Cassandra asked.

Lamia crept closer, her hand moving up to caress Cassandra's cheek.

"Oh . . ." Cassandra murmured. "Do you think it'll work?"

"I don't know, but I think it'll be a bit fun. If this works, I'll never have a chance with either of you again." Lamia winked and Cassandra blushed a little.

Lamia paused, letting Cassandra back out if she wanted to. But Cassandra was curious and if it got her knight to finally fight for her, what could it hurt? She slowly nodded and her eyes slid shut as Lamia's lips met hers.

Lamia was an amazing kisser. Cassandra knew she wasn't even on the same level and hoped at least she was keeping up. They were both started to get into it, when there was a crash that sounded like a bottle being dropped on the floor. Startled and remembering why they'd been putting on the show in the first place, they pulled apart.

Cassandra's eyes opened just in time to see Jacob's face go completely pale before he turned, a look of devastation on his face and walked away, leaving the broken beer bottle at his feet.

Cassandra was a bit in shock over what she just did and Jacob's reaction to it. She stood still and Lamia touched her face in concern. "Cassandra?"

"I know what he sees in you," she murmured.

Lamia laughed. "It's mutual, darling. You are the sweetest thing. Now, go, go get your man, okay? I'll be rooting for you."

Cassandra hurried after Jacob, with a bemused Lamia watching. Dulaque joined Lamia.

"What on earth was that?"

"I just sent two souls on a path toward eternal bliss. Which in my book calls for champagne. And seeing as how we both just lost our escorts, perhaps I could interest you in a visit to my favorite champagne bar?"

"I'd be delighted," Dulaque chuckled, offering her his arm.

* * *

"Jacob, Jacob, please!" Cassandra called after him, really not being used to walking this quickly in heels. "I'm not good at running in these shoes. Please, I need to talk to you."

Jacob had made it into a little park next to the museum. He stopped, letting her catch up. It wasn't her fault that she wasn't interested in him, though he wasn't sure what exactly she wanted to talk to him about. It was a little too late for gently letting him down.

"Oh thank goodness," Cassandra stopped, panting a little. "I need to get back to running. Jacob, please what you saw tonight . . .it wasn't quite what it looked like."

Jacob looked at her a little incredulously and lifted his eyebrows.

"Okay, alright, we kissed, but it wasn't . . ." Cassandra bit her lip not sure how to proceed.

"Look, Cassie, I get it, okay? You have a new lease at life, you're sowing your wild oats. I don't really blame you for casual dating. You told me you're looking for more than that and you know it's not my place to tell you that all of those people are . . . ."

"Are what?" Cassandra asked, a knowing look on her face.

"Bad for you alright? They're not right for you. Not even Lamia and believe me I understand her charms. I know how great she is with all of that. But she's not long term. None of them are. And I just can't take watching you make these mistakes anymore."

Internally Cassandra was doing the biggest happy dance she'd ever done in her life. But she was trying to hide her excitement. She could feel herself shaking so she crossed her arms, trying to look upset. "It's nice for you to care, Jacob, but I don't see what business it is of yours."

She thought it had been the right approach but it turned out to be the wrong thing to say. Jacob looked more than dejected, he looked defeated. "It isn't any. So really, Cass, go back inside, have fun with Lamia or that British guy or whatever."

"Oh my God," Cassandra huffed, losing her patience. "What is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"Lamia was right, you are too noble for your own good! What did you think I was doing tonight? Do you think I just kiss other people's dates for the hell of it?"

"Um . . .I don't?" Jacob backed up a step from Cassandra's fury.

But Cassandra just stepped closer to him, close enough that he could embrace her. Her hand raised and she started to poke his chest. "I was trying to make you jealous!"

"What?"Jacob realized he was starting to sound like a broken record but he couldn't say anything else.

"I want you! I don't want anyone else. I realized it that night at the wine bar. But you were with Lamia and I thought you were in an actual relationship with her."

"But I wasn't . . . ."

"I know that now! But I got some crazy idea from Ezekiel to try and make you jealous. That's what all that stuff with Lucy was. And Lance well . . .that was just a coincidence really. You didn't seem to be jealous with Lucy, so I gave up."

"Oh, Cass . . .and Lamia?"

"That was her idea, last ditch effort to make you fight for me instead of running. Jacob, why did you run?"

"Because . . .because I'm not good enough for you, darlin'. First loves, they're sweet when you're 17 but I don't know if I can be what you need for a first love at 30."

"Jacob," Cassandra sighed. "I don't think I'm worthy of being loved like you love someone either. But I wanna try. Don't you want to try?"

Jacob didn't answer her, instead he stepped the last bit of the way into her space, his hand reaching up to cup her cheek. They simply stood there, looking into each other's eyes for a handful of heartbeats, until he slowly nodded. She smiled and bridged the tiny bit of distance between them, their lips meeting.

Lamia might have been a fantastic kisser as far as technique went, but the emotion behind this kiss blew that earlier one out of the water. Cassandra felt a little overwhelmed, her head swimming but she poured everything she had into kissing him back, letting him know how much she cared, how much she wanted him, wanted this.

Cassandra was sweet, the sweetest thing he'd ever tasted. He was pretty sure that he'd never get enough of her, not ever and he was completely okay with that. He'd finally found the right girl. The girl who knew all of him and loved him anyway. He wasn't gonna let her go, wasn't gonna mess this up, even though he knew that it might be a rocky road sometimes.

"Wow," Cassandra murmured when they finally broke the kiss. "I thought she was a good kisser, but you put her to shame."

Jacob snorted. "She's fantastic but she ain't you. That, what we got, it's better because there's feelin' there."

"Yeah," Cassandra giggled, feeling giddy. "This wow, I didn't think tonight was gonna end like this."

"I was gonna break it off with Lamia and talk to you," Jacob said putting his arms around her. "When I saw you with him, I thought I'd missed my chance again."

Cassandra shook her head and sighed. "I really should have just talked to you in the first place. Had I known you weren't serious about Lamia . . . ."

"Let's just forget all that, okay? Wanna get out of here?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

Jacob took her hand in his and they walked off to the taxi stand together. A new chapter of their lives open before them.


End file.
